The Washington critic., 1887-01-14
WASHINGTON CRITIC
WASHINGTON, JANUARY IL, 1887.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.

sara 10 inc NeW lOTk correspondent VI
the Philadelphia Press. "That is my
own experience with Mr.. Conkling.
1t was his letter TO J. A. j. Creswell,
and his letter alone, that made me
Postmaster of New York The letter
was In two or three lines recommend.
ing my appointment. There was moth
ing In reason / would not have done
for Mr.. Conkling. Yet, out of all my
appointments In the New York Post
Office only four were requested by him.
While ] was Postmaster. General he
made one single ccommendation-on
one. 1t was for the appointment of
Frank Hatton rs Assistant Postmaster.
Ny experience confirms the statement
of Mr.. Boutwell, that Conkling never
dabbled In Office seeking, with which
he has been unjustly accused"
~
Long John Wentworth is said to be
getting feeble, says the Chicago Mail
There are very few men left who were
as active and prominent as he In Chi.
cago forty years ago who are in the full
possession of their faculties. George
Smith, the Scotch millionaire, is one Of
the few. Alexander Mitchell, presi-
dent of the st. Paul, is another but
Mitchell was a young man when the
other two were in their prime. Yet
Alexander Mitchell is now so far along
that regularly once each year 1t Is an-
nounced that he has retired from his
bank and railroad to pass the rest of
his years in quiet. Mitchell Is In the
enyapfiau Gnnrrn Sn,ith and Vphp
Wentworth were as hostile to each
other as they could be, yet Its matter
known to the old conveyancers here
that the tract of land which made
Wentworth millionaire belonged first
to old George smith, the Scotch
banker, who boasts that he has $780,.
100000 worth of property in the United
States yet does not pay single dollar
of taxes.
"Yet from that day to this" says the
regular correspondent of the New York
Sun, speaking of Mr.. Cleveland's re.
cognition of the press in his invitation
of correspondents to attend the Dlplo-
matte reception as contrasted with the
style of Mr.. Hayes, who invited CORE.
spondents 10 hold cold carr val In the
vestibule with the wrap'bearers of
guests, "the press has never had any
definite social standing in the
official receptions at the White
House, Individual members have
been invited privately, as If 1t was
favor that should not be publicly
mentioned. Butin the classification of
Washington official life, where prece
dence Is as much thought of, ap.
parently, as at the European courts,
there was an assigned place for the
smallest bureau or division chief, even
for the sergeants of police Of the navy,
who come in under the more pompous
title Of the Marine Corps but no cor.
respondent of any newspaper could, by
virtue of his place, obtain access to the
White House on occasions of ceremony,
except on New Years Day,
under the official rubric of citizens
generally after the Veterans,
the Oldest Inhabitants Association,
the survivors of the war of 1919, and
other historical antiquities had gained
an audience. President Cleveland has
changed all this, and has given the
representatives of the press definite
social status by the side of Senators
and Repr, scntatives and the staff corps
of the General of the Army, who wear
the gilded cords of the armies of the
Continent. An invitation to this effect
has been officially extended to the press
through the Secretary Of the Senate
and the Clerk of the House"
~
Says correspondent of the Amer.
lean Press Association: The two Sher.
man brothers, John and "Cump,
have always been the best of friends,
and not the smallest cloud of discoid
has ever come between them. And
by the way, 1t is not generally known
that the statesman narrowly escaped
being the soldier of the family, and
vice versa. The father died when John
was about six years old, and the Gen
eral very little older The family were
in poor circumstances, and Thoma;
Ewing offered to adopt one of the boys
"the smartest and the best" as he ex'
pressed 1t. A family council was held
and 1t was decided that "Cumpy," a;
the future soldier was called, shoull be
the one. So the paths of the two boys
divergcd. John studied law and went
into politics; his brother went to West
Point and became the general of the
army. But to return to the letters
The two brothers have corresponded
all their lives, and the Senator has
every letter that the General ever wrote
him. There are thousands of them
pasted in four huge volumes, and they
contain a history of the soldier brother,
life. In these days when everything
relating to the war is in such great de
mand, what feast 1t would be to read
these letters They are addressed from
every place under the sun. From
school, from West Point, from thu
plains when he was simple lleuten
ant, then during the great civil war
before great movements, after bloody
battles, from headquarters. on drum
head, and from every conceivable plac,
and under every conceivable circum
stance, and they were written, not fo
the public, but for his second self, ant
everything was told and nothing KEEP
back. No doubt one of these days the
will all be published, and certainly the,
will form most interesting contribu
tion to the history of the war.
#N4
Senator George G. Vest of Missouri
referring to Congressman Reagan
bath by which he missed his vote o
the tariff bill said TO New Yor
Tribune reporter that 1t was curiou
phase of affairs that ridiculous littl
thing like this sometimes hits ma
harder than serious affair, "In Mi
souri, one of our young men was litel
ally run out of the State" said hi
"by story that was possibly cor
cocted about him, but nevertheless